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Students tour traffic control tower

Special to West Hawaii Today

Students from Innovations Public Charter School recently toured the new Kona International Airport Traffic Control Tower as part of their “Our Community” unit of study.

Under the guidance of Systems Specialist Jeremy Withrow, students toured the facility and learned about the traffic patterns airplanes have to follow and what it takes to keep everyone safe while traveling in the air. “There was a really big computer that controls all of the airplanes,” said first-grader Anelakai Crane.

As students learned about the flashing dots on the screen that represented the many airplanes in the sky, they heard the roar of airplanes taking off and landing on the runways nearby and voices of airplane pilots asking for directions over the loud speakers.

Sitting in “really high chairs” the students understood the vantage point controllers have in order to watch what’s happening with the airplanes. First-grader Maile Niven said, “I want to be an air traffic controller and keep all the airplanes safe.”